Critical Comparison: OriginOil (OTCMKTS:OCLN) vs. LiqTech International (NASDAQ:LIQT)

OriginOil (OTCMKTS:OCLN) and LiqTech International (NASDAQ:LIQT) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for OriginOil and LiqTech International, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OriginOil	0	0	0	0	0.00
LiqTech International	0	0	2	0	3.00

LiqTech International has a consensus target price of $4.80, indicating a potential upside of 194.48%. Given LiqTech International’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LiqTech International is more favorable than OriginOil.

Volatility and Risk

OriginOil has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LiqTech International has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares OriginOil and LiqTech International”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OriginOil	$5.54 million	4.30	-$18.97 million	N/A	N/A
LiqTech International	$14.60 million	1.07	-$10.35 million	($1.49)	-1.09

LiqTech International has higher revenue and earnings than OriginOil.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

35.1% of LiqTech International shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of OriginOil shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.8% of LiqTech International shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares OriginOil and LiqTech International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OriginOil	N/A	N/A	-96.45%
LiqTech International	-68.79%	-74.41%	-33.72%

Summary

LiqTech International beats OriginOil on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OriginOil

OriginClear, Inc. provides water treatment solutions worldwide. The company designs and manufactures a line of water treatment systems for municipal, industrial, and pure water applications. It also offers a range of services, including maintenance contracts, retrofits, and replacement assistance; and rents equipment through contracts of varying duration, as well as provides prefabricated water transport and treatment systems. The company was formerly known as OriginOil, Inc. and changed its name to OriginClear, Inc. in April 2015. OriginClear, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.

About LiqTech International

LiqTech International, Inc., a clean technology company, designs, develops, produces, markets, and sells automated filtering systems, ceramic silicon carbide liquid applications, and diesel particulate air filters in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America. The company operates through Water, Ceramics, and Plastics segments. It also manufactures and sells silicon carbide ceramic filtration technologies for liquid and gas purification; and diesel particulate filters for exhaust emission control solutions to the verified retrofit and the original equipment manufacturer market. In addition, the company develops, manufactures, and sells liquid filtration systems, which are used for the marine scrubber systems, filtration of produced water, industrial applications, pool and spa water, food and beverage application, and silicon carbide membrane technology. Further, it provides flexible and plastics manufacturing products for machining, welding, bending, and solvent cementing. LiqTech International, Inc. sells its products primarily to industrial customers through direct sales, systems integrators, distributors, agents, and partners. The company was formerly known as Blue Moose Media, Inc. and changed its name to LiqTech International, Inc. in October 2011. LiqTech International, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Ballerup, Denmark.